Seamless knit garment and method of making same



Dec. 6, 1960 "L, w. GARROU ETA 2,962,884

SEAMLESS KNIT GARMENT ANDMETHOD OF MAKING SAME Filed Sept. 16, 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 IN VE NTOR.

Lows W. GAmzou and GEORGE F. SQmLLARIO ATTORNEYS Dec. 1960 L. w. GARROU ET AL 2,962,384v

SEAMLESS KNIT GARMENT AND METHOD OF MAKING SAME Filed Sept. 16, 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.

Lows W. GARROU and GEORGE F. SQU\LLAR\O ATTORNEYS United States Patent F SEAMLESS KNIT GARMENT AND METHOD OF MAKING SAME Filed Sept. 16, 1959, Ser. No. 840,407 13 Claims. (Cl. 66-177) This invention relates to seamless knit two-legged lower body garments, such as panties, panty girdles, bathing suits and tights or the like. Garments of this type are normally shaped to closely conform to the contour and figure of the wearer and in some instances they are made of stretchable fabric and fit relatively snuglyto provide support for the wearer.

Most two-legged lower body garments presently produced are of the so-called cut and sewed type which are made by cutting flat or tubular material to form separate body panels and these separate panels are seamed together to form a garment of predetermined shape. The manufacture of this type garment is expensive because experienced operators are required to accurately cut the various panels and then seam the same together. Also, the thickened seams at the junctures of each panel often cause discomfort to the wearer.

In attempts to overcome the objections to cut and sewed panties and the like, it has been proposed in U.S. Patents Nos. 2,560,580 and 2,511,720, issued to George Lacks, to shape or fashion panty and girdle blanks on a circular knitting machine. However, the garment blanks disclosed in these patents require a seaming or looping operation to join together separately knit portions of the blanks after the knitting operation is completed. Also, the garment blanks disclosed in both of these patents are knit in such a-manner that the knit wales, throughout substantially the complete blank, extend in a vertical or lengthwise direction from the waist to the bottom of the legs, thus limiting the amount the blanks may be fashioned during knitting.

It is-a primary object of this invention to provide a one-piece seamless two-legged garment blank and method of -making the same which is, completely devoid of any seams and is therefore better appearing and more comfortable than similar garments heretofore produced.

It is another object of the invention to provide a fashioned two-legged lower body garment which may be knit to conform to various predetermined shapes during the knitting operation and wherein the knittingoperation may be carried out on conventional knitting machinery in a simple and economical manner.

It is a more specific object of the present invention to provide a seamless knit garment having leg portions in which the knit wales extend in substantially a vertical direction and integrally formed generally V-shaped body panels joining the leg portions in which the knit wales extend in substantially a horizontal direction across portions of the front and rear of the body portion wherein the width of the body panels may be changed to thereby shape the garment for proper fit.

Some'of the objects of the invention having been stated, other objects will appear as the description proceeds when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure; 1 is a front elevation of one type of seamless panty blank which may be knit in accordance with the presentinvention, showing the panty blank in flattened 2,952,884 Patented Dec. 6, 19 0 condition after it is removed from the knitting machine and prior to finishing the same;

Figure 2 is a view similar to Figure 1, showing the panty blank in finished condition;

Figure 3 shows the panty blank of Figure l with the legs thereof folded into juxtaposition along a fold line extending vertically through the center of the blank shown in Figure 1;

Figure 4 is a perspective view of the panty blank shown in Figure 1 with the front panel cut along its juncture with the leg portions and raised to illustrate the appearance of the inside of the blank;

Figure 5 is a view similar to Figure 1 except showing a modified form of panty blank to illustrate the variation of overall shape which may be accomplished by varying the manner of knitting the leg portions and body panels of the blank;

Figure 6 is a view similar to Figure 5, showing the panty blank in finished condition;

Figure 7 shows the panty blank of Figure 5 with the legs thereof folded into juxtaposition along a fold line extending vertically through the center of the blank shown in Figure 5;

Figure 8 is a view similar to Figures 1 and 5 except showing still another modified form of panty blank which may be knit by varying the manner of knitting the leg portions and body panels of the blank;

Figure 9 is a view similar to Figure 8, showing the front elevation of the panty blank in finished condition;

Figure 10 shows the panty blank of Figure 8 with the legs thereof folded into juxtaposition along a fold line extending vertically through the center of the blank shown in Figure 8.

Referring to Figures 1, 3, and 4, it will be noted that the panty blank includes a pair of seamless tubular legs 10 and 11 having knit wales that extend substantially vertically or longitudinally thereof. The legs 10 and 11 are provided with integrally knit extensions 12 and 13, respectively, which are joined to the upper ends of the legs 10 and 11 and extend upwardly from the respective dash-dot lines indicated at 14 and 15. It will be noted that the inner edges of the extensions 12- and 13 taper outwardly away from each other.

The upper inner portions of the extensions 12 and 13 are joined to opposite sides of a body gusset broadly indicated at 20 and which has front and rear panels 21 and 22. The upper inner portion of the extensions 12 and 13 are joined to the front and rear panels 21, 22 of the body gusset 20, during the knitting operation and in a manner to be later described, along respective front and rear gore lines 24, 25 and 26, 27. The body gusset 20 is knit in such a manner that the knit wales thereof extend in substantially a horizontal direction in Figures 1 and 4, as opposed to the substantially vertically extending wales of the legs 10, 11 and extensions 12, 13.

After knitting of the panty blank is completed, the upper medial portion thereof is slit or out along the dashdot line indicated at 30 in Figure 4 to provide a waist opening. It will be noted that the slit extends walewise of the fabric and between the front and rear panels 21 and 22 and opposite ends of the slit also extend into the upper portions of the extensions 12 and 13. The waist opening may then be finished to prevent raveling by sewing a stretchable band 31 or the like to the edges (Figure 2). The legs 10 and 11 may also be finished by sewing stretchable bands 32 and 33 or the like thereto.

The finished garment (Figure 2) thus is completely devoid of any seams with the leg portions and body gusset being joined along gore lines formed as the fabric is narrowed and widened. Referring to Figure 4, it will be noted that when the blank is removed from the knitting machine, it defines a generally U-shaped tube having a crotch area 35 extending between opposite ends of the body gusset 20 and a waist area 36 formed by the medial portion of the body gusset and the upper ends of the eX- tensions 12 and 13. The body gusset is formed so that the knit wales therein run in substantially perpendicular relationship to the knit wales in the leg portions whereby variations in stitch length may be used in different portions of the blank to thereby vary the amount of stretchability of the different portions of the blank and to also change the shape of the blank. Also, it would be a simple matter to knit the body gusset of a different yarn than that used to knit the leg portions and thereby impart dif ferent stretch chraacten'stics to the body gusset, if desired.

- The garment of the present invention will be described as being knit on a circular knitting machine which is capable of rotary and reciprocatory knitting although it is to be understood that the garment may also be knit on other types of machines capable of knitting a tubular fabric such as the Lamb type knitting machine in which a pair of angula-rly opposed needle beds are utilized.

When a circular knitting machine is used to knit the panty blank shown in Figures 1, 3 and 4, the cylinder will be supplied with the proper number of needles necessary to produce the desired diameter of tubular fabric in the legs. Knitting of the panty blank may be started at the bottom of either of the legs or 11 and will be described starting with the leg 10. Through conventional pattern control mechanisms, the needle cylinder is rotated continuously in one direction with all of the needles in active or knitting position so that when a yarn is fed to the needles, the tubular seamless leg 10 will be formed. Rotary knittingis continued until the leg 10 is the desired length and in the present instance, rotary knitting continues until the dash-dot line 14 is reached. At this point, the machine switches into reciprocatory knitting and a group of the needles in the cylinder are moved to idle position with the remainder of the needles remaining in active position to start to knit the extension 12'. During the knitting of the extension 12, partial courses are formed with each reciprocation of the needle cylinder and needles are successively removed from action with each succeeding partial course while retaining their stitch loops to produce narrowed fabric, in the well known manner. Thus as knitting continues, the fabric of the extension gradually narrows until only a predetermined number of needles remain active.

Prior to forming the first reciprocatory course of the body gusset 20, a group of needles adjacent each side of the active needles are brought back into action and when the first reciprocatory partial course of the body gusset is knit, the vertical portions of the gore lines 24 and 26 are formed (Figures 1 and 4). With succeeding partial courses of the body gusset 20, additional needles are made active at each end of the group of active needles to gradually widen the fabric in the well known manner. As the fabric of the body gusset 20 is widened, it is connected to the fabric of the extension 12 along the inclined portions of the gore lines 24 and 26. When the proper number of needles have been reactivated in the body gusset 20, at the midpoint of the body gusset 2.0, the number of needles knitting in succeeding partial courses is reduced in a narrowing operation. This narrowing operation is continued until the last partial course of the body gusset 20 is formed, and then groups of needles at each end of the course are deactivated at one time.

The extension 13 is started on a small group of needles with the machine still forming reciprocatorily knit partial courses. The number of needles knitting in succeeding partial courses is increased to thereby gradually widen the fabric and as additional needles are reactivated, the fabric of the extension 13 is connected to the fabric of the body gusset 20 along the gore lines and 27 (Figures 1 and 4).

The extension 13 is completed when the dash-dot line 15 is reached, and at this point all of the inactive needles in the cylinder are activated and the machine switches into rotary knitting to again produce tubular seamless fabric to form the leg 11. When all-of the needles in the cylinder are again moved to active position the group of needles which had been holding their stitch loops since the completion of the first leg 10 are again activated to thereby join the two legs 10 and 11 together at the crotch of the blank. After knitting of the blank is completed, the upper end is slit along the dotted line 30 and the garment may be finished in the manner heretofore described.

Referring to Figures 5 through 7, a second form of panty is shown in which the manner of knitting has been changed slightly to provide a panty having a shape which is different from the first form of panty disclosed in Figures 1 through 4. However, the panty shown in Figures 5 through 7 is knit in the same general manner as the panty shown in Figures 1 through 4 and comprises substantially the same parts, therefore, parts of the second form of panty which are similar to corresponding parts of the first form of panty will bear like reference characters with the small a added.

In knitting the panty blanks shown in Figures 5 and 7, the leg 10a and extension 12a are knit in an identical manner to the leg 10 and extension 12 of the panty blank of the first form of panty blank, heretofore described. Thus, circular knitting is utilized to produce the leg 10a up to the dash-dot line 14a and reciprocatory knitting, while gradually reducing the fabric, is utilized to knit the extension 12a. The body gusset 20a is then knit by gradually increasing the width of the fabric in the well known widening operation until half of the body gusset 20a is knit. As the first half of the body gusset 20a is knit, the edges of the front and rear panels are joined to the edge of the extension 12a along the front gore line 24a and rear gore line, not shown. The second half of the body gusset 20a is then knit while reducing the width of the fabric.

The extension 13a is next knit by gradually increasing the width of the fabric while joining the edge of the extension 13a to the edge of the body portion 20a along the front gore line 25a and a rear gore line, not shown. When the extension 13a is knit to the dash-dot line 15a, all of the needles in the cylinder are again activated and the tubular leg 11a is formed to complete the panty blank.

The panty blank may then be finished, as shown in Figure 6 by transversely slitting the upper end of the blank through the body gusset 20a, in a walewise direction, and then sewing the elastic bands 31a, 32a and 33a to the respective waist and leg openings. Since the body gusset 20a is knit by gradually widening and then narrowing the fabric at an even rate, the walewise length of the body gusset 20a is greater than the body gusset 20 of the panty shown in Figures 1 through 4, therefore, the waist of the second form of panty is wider than the waist of the first form of panty. Also, the gore lines at the front and rear of the panty are straight and connect at their lower ends to form almost perfect Vs.

Referring to Figures 8 through 10, a third form of panty is shown in which the narrowing and widening operations are changed slightly during the knitting of the blank to thereby produce a garment having still another shape. Since the third form of panty comprises substantially the same parts as the parts of the first two forms of panty disclosed, like reference characters are applied to corresponding parts wtih the small letter b added.

In knitting the panty blanks shown in Figures 8 and 10, the leg 1% is produced by circular knitting to the dashdot line 14b where the machine switches to reciprocatory knitting and the extension 12b is produced by gradually reducing the fabric in a narrowing operation. After the extension 12b is completed, the first few courses of the body gusset 20b are knit by gradually increasing the Width of the fabric in a widening operation. After a predetermined number of widened partial courses have been knitted to form the inclined portion at the upper end of the gore line 24b and an identical portion at the rear of the blank, a group of needles adjacent each side of the active needles are brought into action at one time to produce the vertical portion of the gore line 24b. Then gradual widening continues to produce the lower inclined portion of the gore line 24b. Throughout the knitting of the first half of the body gusset 20b, the fabric is joined to the edge of the extension 12b.

The second half of the body gusset 2t'ib is knit by first gradually narrowing the fabric to form the lower inclined portion of the gore line 25b. Then a group of needles at each end of the active needles are deactivated at one time to form the vertical portion of the gore line 25b. Then gradual narrowing continues to form the upper inclined portion of the gore line 25b and complete the knitting of the body gusset 20b.

The extension 13b is next knit by gradually increasing the width of the fabric while joining the edge of the extension 13b to the edge of the body gusset 20b along the front gore line 25b and a rear gore line, not shown. When the dash-dot line 15b is reached, the extension 1311 is completed and the machine again switches into rotary knitting to produce the tubular leg 11b on all of the needles in the needle cylinder.

After the blank has been completed, the upper end is slit in a walewise direction across the body gusset Ztlb to provide a Waist opening. This opening may then be finished by sewing a stretchable band 31b to the edges thereof (Figure 9). The lower ends of the legs lilb and 1112 may be finished by sewing stretchable bands 32b and 33b thereto.

By referring to the three forms of panty shown, it will be apparent that by merely changing the manner in which the body gusset and/or the leg extensions are narrowed and widened, the shape or size of the panty blank may be changed. By changing the manner in which the body gusset is fashioned, the walewise length of the body gusset may be made greater or shorter to thus change the overall shape of the panty blank while the same is being knitted.

It is to be understood. that the seamless knit garment disclosed in the present application may be knit of any desired type of yarn to achieve the desired results in the garment. For example, the complete garment may be knit of either natural or synthetic, inelastic or nonstretchable yarn if stretchability of the garment is not desired. The complete garment may be knit of stretchable or elastic yarn if stretchability of the garment is desired. Various portions of the garment may be knit of stretchable yarn while other portions may be knit of non-stretchable yarn and some portions of the garment may be knit by combining stretchable and non-stretchable yarn. Also, the body gusset may be knit of two different yarns so that, for example, the front panel may be knit of a stretchable yarn While the rear panel may be knit of a non-stretchable yarn and if desired, a yarn change may be effected during knitting of the body gusset so that opposite sides of the body gusset are formed of a different type of yarn than the medial portion thereof.

As has been mentioned heretofore, the gore lines which divide opposite ends of the body gusset from the leg ex tensions may be varied by widening and narrowing the fabric in the leg extensions and/or the body gusset in selected partial courses instead of in successive partial courses. The portions of the garment may also be fashioned so that the gore lines make a complete change of direction, as for example, the gore line may branch off in two directions to assume a Y-shape. Instead of using stretchable bands to finish the open legs and waist of the garment, the material at the legs and waist may be turned and hemmed without employing extra material. Although only three panty blanks have been described,

it is apparent that various other modifications may be" of limitation, the scope of the invention being defined in the claims.

We claim:

1. A seamless knit panty or the like comprising a pair of seamless tubular legs, a tapered extension knit integral with and extending from each of said legs, and gusset panels knit integral with and connecting the extensions of each leg.

2. A seamless knit panty or the like comprising a pair of seamless tubular legs, an extension knit integral with and extending upwardly from each of said legs, said ex tensions tapering outwardly from each other, and substantially V-shaped gusset panels knit integral with and connecting the extensions of each leg. t

3. A seamless knit panty or the like comprising a pair of seamless tubular legs, an extension knit integral with and extending upwardly from each of said legs, said extensions tapering outwardly from each other, substantially V-shaped gusset panels knit integral with and connecting the extensions of each leg, the knit wales of said legs and extensions extending longitudinally thereof, and the knit wales of said gusset panels extending from one extension to the other.

4. A seamless knit panty type garment comprising a pair of seamless tubular legs, a tapered extension formed integral with and extending from each of said legs, a body gusset knit integral with and connecting the extensions of each leg, said body gusset comprising substantially V-shaped front and rear gusset panels, and said body gusset being slit to provide a waist opening between said front and rear gusset panels.

5. In a garment according to claim 4 wherein the knit wales of said legs and extensions extend longitudinally thereof and the knit wales of said body gusset extend from one leg extension to the other.

6. A method of making seamless panties or the like comprising the steps of knitting a first tubular leg, knitting a first leg extension integral with the first leg while reducing the width of the fabric of said extension, knitting a fashioned body gusset integral with the first leg extension, knitting a second leg extension integral with the body gusset while increasing the width of the fabric of said second leg extension, knitting a second tubular leg integral with the second leg extension, and then slitting the fabric transversely of the body gusset to form a waist opening.

7. A method of making seamless panties or the like comprising the steps of knitting a first tubular leg, knitting a first leg extension integral with the first leg while reducing the width of the fabric of said extension, knitting a fashioned body gusset integral with the first leg extension while widening the fabric during the knitting of the first half of the body gusset and narrowing the fabric during the knitting of the second half of the body gusset, knitting a second leg extension integral with the second half of the body gusset, while increasing the width of the fabric of said second leg extension, knitting a second tubular leg integral with the second leg extension, and then slitting the fabric transversely of the body gusset to form a waist opening.

8. A method of making seamless panties or the like on a circular knitting machine comprising the steps of knitting a first tubular leg on all of the needles, knitting by reciprocation on a group of the needles to form a first leg extension integral with the first leg While reducing the number of needles knitting in succeeding courses, knitting by reciprocation a fashioned body gusset integral with the first leg extension while first increasing and then decreasing the number of needles knitting in succeeding courses, knitting by reciprocation a second leg extension integral with the body gusset while increasing the number of needles knitting in succeeding courses, knitting a second tubular leg on all of the needles and integral with the second leg extension, and then slitting the fabric transversely of the body gusset to form a waist opening.

9. A seamless blank for forming a knit panty or the like comprising a substantially U-shaped seamless knit tube having tubular leg portions defining the openings of the U-shaped tube, a tapered extension knit integral with each leg portion and connected thereto remote from the openings defined by the leg portions, and tapered gusset panels knit integral with said tapered extensions and connected thereto to define the central portion of the U-shaped tube.

10. A seamless blank for forming a knit panty or the like comprising a substantially U-shaped seamless knit tube having tubular leg portions defining the openings of the U-shaped tube, the knit wales of said leg portions extending longitudinally thereof, a tapered extension knit integral with each leg portion and connected thereto remote from the opening defined by the leg portions, tapered elongate gusset panels knit integral 25 with said tapered extensions and connected thereto to define the central portion of the U-shaped tube, and the knit wales of said gusset panels extending transversely thereof.

11. A seamless blank for forming a knit panty or the like comprising a substantially U-shaped seamless knit tube having a crotch area, a waist area and tubular leg portions with the free ends thereof defining the openings of the U-shaped tube, the proximal portions of the other ends of said leg portions terminating'adjacent the crotch area, said tube having a body gusset knit integral therewith with end portions thereof terminating adjacent the crotch area and other portions thereof positioned in the waist area of the tube.

12. In a panty blank according to claim 11 wherein the end portions of said body gusset are tapered adjacent the crotch area.

13. In a panty blank according to claim 12 wherein integrally knit tapered leg extensions are positioned between said leg portions and said body gusset.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

